1. Field of the Invention
A pliers-type gripping tool includes a pair of gripping jaws, a pair of pivotally connected hand grip levers for operating the gripping jaws between an open separated condition and a closed gripping condition, and an adjusting device for varying one of the physical operating properties of the tool. In one embodiment, the hand grip levers are sectional, and the adjusting device includes an angle setting arrangement for determining the angular relationship of the sections, thereby to permit use of the tool to engage an object at a relatively inaccessible location. In a second embodiment, at least one of the levers includes a metal lever body member partially enclosed by a synthetic plastic shell member. An adjusting device controls the lateral relative positions of the lever body and shell members to adjust the effective thickness of the hand grips to correspond with the size of the hand of the user.
2. Description of Related Art
Pliers-type gripping tools for stripping insulation from insulated conductors are known in the patented prior art, as evidenced by the U.S. patents to Schmode et al U.S. Pat. No. 5,572,911, Hetland et al U.S. Pat. No. 6,895,836, and Tapper No. U.S. Pat. 6,910,401.
Pliers-type gripping tools normally comprise a tool body, a pair of gripping jaws, and two hand grips, one of which is rigidly attached to the pliers or is partially designed integrally with the pliers body, and the other of which is pivotably connected with the body of the pliers, so that in operation, the pivotable hand grip is forced in the direction of the hand grip that is rigidly attached to the pliers body. The hand grips are normally in a fixed angular position relative to the body of the pliers. It is a disadvantage here that such pliers cannot be handled optimally in areas of work where access is difficult, in particular when the object to be processed is situated behind another object and the user of the pliers can approach the object to be machined only at an angle which is a disadvantage for the pliers. It is also a disadvantage that the grip width of pliers is adapted to the grip width of an average hand. For example, if a user has a very large hand in comparison with the hand of the average user, then such pliers will not fit well in the user's hand, and his hand muscles will become fatigued more rapidly.
The object of the present invention is therefore to develop a hand grip for pliers as well as the pliers themselves, so that the aforementioned disadvantages can be eliminated and the pliers can be manufactured inexpensively.